The owner of the hotel in Pokhara woke us at 6am in order to get us downstairs in time for a swift coffee before heading off to the bus station. It isn't far, maybe a fifteen minute walk, but the owner offered to drop us off in his clapped-out old car which, considering the weight of our packs, was a real relief. We were still surprised to have made it there without breaking down though. I slammed the door on the way out and the handle came loose in my hand. The bus was a large, comfortable but ageing dinosaur from [View Full Entry]

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Hello everyone! As you may have gathered, we made it round the Annapurna Circuit! (Although at times it seemed we wouldn't!!) Day 1 began with us getting up at 5.15am (a sign of things to come!) to get to the bus park for our bus to Besisahar. From there we took another bus (a bone-rattler!) to Bhulbhule, where we started walking. Ironically, the day we left Pokhara was the only day it was clear enough for us to see the Himalayas, the view for which Pokhara is famous! We hired a guide, called Tulsi, and a porter, Samir, to carry our [View Full Entry]

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After whiling away the rest of the 23rd i got up early yesterday and, after gulping down copious amounts of medication, i felt almost prepared for the 8 hour bus journey to Pokhara. I was so ready to leave Lumbini and needed to be somewhere where there were more facilities, as there is absolutely nothing in Lumbini. I started out at 6.30am so that i would hopefully get to Pokhara before it got dark. First, a bus took me from Lumbini to Bhairwa then a short 2 km walk to the bus stand and got an ok bus with fairly comfortable [View Full Entry]

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it was hard leaving the orphan kids, on my last day i finallly got them to understand british bulldog - the banned game of tag involving opposite walls as 'home' and a lot of rough stuff. a couple of rucks broke out but they all loved it. When i often bought cookies they lined up for them for a bit, but then it would literally turn into a fight and scrum for them, these kids where hungry and many in need of medicine for scabies. But all where alert, bright, happy, caring and sharing. i gave so much of my energy [View Full Entry]

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We wake early and are greeted with the kind of view people write poetry about... from the back window of our room the town stretches out and gently upwards, the houses mostly traditional brightly-painted Nepali with balconies, roof gardens and washing lines, and behind them the hills climb into the distance. And finally, behind that, there's the snow-capped Annapurna mountain range which climbs to 27,000 feet. Quite often the cloud and haze obscures the range, but a storm last night cleared the air and these monolithic ghostly shapes loom through the atmosphere with incredible clarity, the eas [View Full Entry]

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Hej Allesammen Saa er vi i Pokhara efter 5 dages trekking og 3 dage i Chitwan nationalpark. Vi er kede af at vi ikke har faaet skrevet og det bliver heller ikke til saa meget idag, for der sker simpelthen noget hele tiden! Trekken var en rigtig fed oplevelse og en kaempe komtrast til de vilde liv i Kathmandu. Desvaerre var Anna daarlig paa meget af turen, saa vi regner med at tage revanche, og tage en tur til i bjergene en af de naeste dage:-) I Chitwan har vi reddet paa elefanter og badet med dem, og det var virkelig [View Full Entry]

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Hi everyone. Well after a break of about two weeks we have returned from our trek in Nepal. Our much awaited train tickets spirited us up to Gorakhpur, a biggish city acting as a transport hub and popular jumping off point for the Nepalese boarder. A pretty slow bus trundled us up to Nepal, and an even slower creakier bus took us on to Pokhara our main base in Nepal. After a busy day rushing around town we found ourselves a guide/porter to carry most of our gear and make sure we didn't get lost, as well as sourcing some hire [View Full Entry]

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Am still here, in Pokhara, and am finding it quite hard to leave really. Since I returned from the trek, I have settled into the place - well to Lakeside, which is unsurprisingly the section of town that lines the side of the lake, and home of touristland, and stayed within that 2 mile square. The trek seems like a distant memory now, I just reread my blog to remind myself. The first few days when I returned I amused myself by one day hiring a bike and cycling out of town to the International Mountain Museum which is excellent - [View Full Entry]

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Hi everyone! Well, we've done so much since the last entry that we've almost forgotten what we've been doing! We made it to Butwal okay (this time!!) as the strike luckily wasn't affecting the road from Pokhara. We went to Butwal to visit Phil's aunt and uncle who work at the Butwal Technical Institute (BTI), but unfortunately when we got off the bus we were surrounded by rickshaw drivers who apparently had never heard of BTI!!!! (Even though it was about 2 minutes away from where we were standing and Sa had noticed us passing it from the bus!!) They also [View Full Entry]

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A lot to say, but no time to say it. Nothing bad, all good. But we're now in Pokhara and about to leave on our trek (the taxi is waiting). Just wanted to get an message out real quick in case we can't get online in the next week (we expect to be gone for about 7 days). We may indeed have internet up there, but just in case... you now know where we are. I guess that wouldn't hurt: we're going to Annapurna Base Camp, so that's where we will be... come find us?? ;) Anyway, we have a guide, [View Full Entry]

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